tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141797425003284980.post1767750453071054933..comments2017-08-18T00:31:48.603+05:00Comments on Footloose: Rannikot - In the Middle of NowhereKaiser Tufailnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141797425003284980.post-21537375888911547582016-11-11T19:13:33.759+05:002016-11-11T19:13:33.759+05:00Silvia Veloso
I read your message with interest. ...Silvia Veloso<br /><br />I read your message with interest. Thank you for your appreciation.<br /><br />Firstly, a bit about the name of the fort, ie Rannikot. &#39;Ranni&#39; in Sindhi language means a hill torrent or a small river that comes down from the hills or mountains. The word &#39;Kot&#39; means a fort in Hindi language. So the meaning of Rannikot is: &#39;the fort near the hill torrent&#39;. The word Ranni and its derivative Rann is used as a geographical term describing various flowing water channels (eg, Rann of Kutch, in SE Pakistan and Indian Gujarat).<br /><br />It is usually spelt incorrectly as Rani, which means a princess in Hindi and Urdu languages. By this translation, it would mean Princess Fort, which is incorrect.<br /><br />Now about the short composition by the poet Ghulam Ali Ma&#39;il. He was the court poet to the Talpur ruler of Sindh, Mir Karam Ali Talpur who ruled from 1812 to 1828 AD. The poet Mail died in 1835.<br /><br />The court poets of that era would compose a few verses to praise any achievement of the ruler. Ghulam Ali Ma&#39;il had this to say about the fort:<br /><br /> First Composition:<br /><br />&quot; The fort was built on a high ridge of a mountain, with a circular foundation and vast environment (surroundings). It is an all stone construction, built on stone (foundation). It is a grand fort, the like of which is neither in Rome nor Russia. It is called Aliabad. The construction work started in 1230 AH (1815 AD).&quot;<br /><br />Second Composition:<br /><br />&quot;It is named Ali-abad. It is high as the sky, and as vast as the earth. It is perfect in construction, and towering in height. Its year of completion is 1234 AH (1819 AD). Thus it took 5 years 1230 to 1234 AH (1815-1819AD) to complete the fort.&quot;<br /><br />The fort was named Ali-abad meaning, &quot;Established by Ali&quot; (the name of the ruler was Mir Karam Ali Talpur. Abad means &#39;establish&#39; in Urdu and Sindhi.<br /><br />The composition by Ghulam Ali Ma&#39;il has been taken from Appendix 2 of a book titled &#39;Talpur Rule in Sindh,&#39; written by Parveen Talpur, and published by Ferozsons (Pvt) Ltd, Pakistan in 2002. ISBN 969 0 01757 8.<br />Kaiser Tufailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05733145033238064933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141797425003284980.post-53262598582918462752016-11-11T00:31:54.846+05:002016-11-11T00:31:54.846+05:00Dear Mr. Tufail.
First of all, I would like to tha...Dear Mr. Tufail.<br />First of all, I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my message. I’m a Spanish writer now living in Chile.<br />I’am writing you after reading this article in your blog, which I found very much interesting.<br />I´m finishing a poetry book which main issue is walls and frontier barriers. <br />In the book, through my text, I go along introducing notes about several of the walls and border barriers that have been built by man through history. In these notes, besides couple objective facts of each wall such as location, construction date and length, my idea is to mention each wall or barrier through a poetic or literary reference. Whenever literary or poetic reference doesn&#39;t exist or is unknown, I`m using historical sources such as annals or chronicles.<br />One of the walls I`m having problems to get to this literary reference is the Ranikot Fort (or Rani-ka Kot, Great Wall of Sindh) in Pakistan.<br />All the articles I`ve been reading about Ranikot included yours, mention poet’s Ghulam Ali Ma&#39;il. reference to the fort, but I couldn´t been able to find the text or poem in which he makes such reference to Ranikot. Though this poet is supposed to be a relatively known writer, (in Sisir Kumar Das’ book is said about the poet: &quot;Ghulam Ali &#39;Mail&#39; (b. 1768), a celebrated poet of Sind who was also famous for his Persian qasida. He had a diwan consisting of about 224 poems”), unfortunately I didn’t get to find any translation of his work.<br />I found another reference to Ranikot in &#39;A gazetteer of the Province of Sindh&#39; (1876), but I would really prefer to mention the fort in my book with the reference of the local poet rather than with the economic chronicle of the British researcher.<br />I would really appreciate it and I would be very grateful if you could give me any clue or help to find a translation of the text, poetic excerpt or chronicle reference in which poet Ma’il references the fort.<br />Thank you in advance for your time, help and comprehension.<br />Kind regards.<br />Silvia Veloso<br />veloso.rs@gmail.com<br /><br />Veloso XXIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05436009798202272383noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141797425003284980.post-43432827368984218602016-06-18T04:40:09.016+05:002016-06-18T04:40:09.016+05:00Kaiser, I am impressed by your ability to travel t...Kaiser, I am impressed by your ability to travel to such far off places in the little time available to you on your short visits to Karachi. I have been wanting to visit Rannikot for many years now but have been unable to do so on one pretext or another. This is yet another excellent article - very absorbing and informative. Thanks for demolishing the myth of the fort with the world&#39;s longest perimeter. arshad sirajhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01959007854718841283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141797425003284980.post-27419218201632221412015-10-19T18:13:18.421+05:002015-10-19T18:13:18.421+05:00Kaiser sb, thank you for linking me to this blog p...Kaiser sb, thank you for linking me to this blog post. Reading this creates intrigue<br /> I enjoyed reading this and I&#39;m thinking next time a cup of tea and some khatai must be my company. I wouldnt have known that the 26-28 km length of the wall was an overestimation. Also, the price of the fort back then at 17 lakh. Wow!!! I wonder why was this location chosen for a fort this big. Such a desolate place. And yes, even the thought of walking across this dry and deserted place in the heat of the summer makes me cringe! Would it be safe to say that majority of the forts were built from the 18th to 19th century? Roshaanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12570705779784597188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141797425003284980.post-43326618715626648042012-02-26T14:15:59.127+05:002012-02-26T14:15:59.127+05:00Sir....I come to know of your this aspect too late...Sir....I come to know of your this aspect too late and just by the chance....The article is quite interesting and informative.Despite the fact that I born and spent my life in Sindh,I fail to visit Rannikot...but its never too late. Sir...I served under your command in No.8 sqn.....certainly its very hard to remember it now...I am was Cpl/Tech at that time.... Ex-C/T Khawar Iqbal. May Allah bless you...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141797425003284980.post-10968545429874639282012-02-25T19:46:13.568+05:002012-02-25T19:46:13.568+05:00ur writings r always interesting its a while now t...ur writings r always interesting its a while now that i have been reading things 4rm ur side just continue the gr8 work !!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com